Can a democracy claim to speak for its people when the ballot box fails to translate votes into seats? That is the question at the heart of a new push by Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma, president of the Mouvement Patriotique pour un Développement Durable (MPPD) / AND DEFAR SUNU REEW. In a widely discussed contribution, he argues that Senegal’s electoral architecture needs a bold rethink to deliver political representation that is more faithful, closer to citizens and rooted in the realities of every territory.
A system that no longer matches the vote
Senegal’s legislative elections currently rest on a hybrid design. Of the 165 seats in the National Assembly, 112 are filled through a single-round majority list vote, while 53 are allocated by proportional representation on a national list. At the municipal level, the mixed system splits seats between 45 percent majority and 55 percent proportional. For Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma, this arrangement has shown its limits and deserves fresh scrutiny so that the makeup of elected assemblies mirrors the ballots actually cast.
1. Full proportional representation with a strong local anchor
One of the flagship ideas is to introduce integral proportional representation for both legislative and local elections, while keeping a genuine territorial footing. The point is not merely to distribute seats according to parties’ electoral weight, but to rebuild the bond between elected officials and those who vote for them. Under this vision, candidacies would open beyond party machines to include citizens’ movements, independent candidates and, under strict conditions, civil society and competent state services. Nominations would take root in neighbourhoods and villages, rewarding local presence and public trust.
2. Redefining the MP’s role: from party label to territory
The relationship between citizen, territory and representative needs rethinking. Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma stresses the need for MPs who are clearly identifiable by their constituents and obliged to report back regularly. Political parties would keep a supporting role but would no longer hold a monopoly on representation. The figure of the ‘party MP’ would give way to the ‘MP chosen by citizens and carried by a territory’.
3. Stabilising and clarifying the local vote
Applied to municipal and departmental elections, stronger proportional representation would better reflect the diversity of political views within a commune. But this openness must go hand in hand with stable local executives. Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma suggests a second round when no list reaches an absolute majority of votes (50 percent), allowing a clear choice between competing forces, subject to a prior study of the legal and financial implications.
4. A territorialised electoral administration
To complete the package, the local organisation of elections could rely more on prefects and sub-prefects within their respective areas, under the control of the national framework and in strict respect for impartiality and equality. Such territorialisation would encourage dialogue with grassroots communities.
5. The special case of Kaolack: towards a new local setup
For Kaolack, a city spanning nearly 6,959 hectares (69.6 km²), structured into 45 neighbourhoods and home to a considerable population (1,336,720 inhabitants according to the RGPH-5 of 2023), a tailored approach is proposed. Given its urban growth and economic role, the study of creating three or four arrondissement communes or local municipal entities is recommended. Such a shift would rest on rigorous criteria: demography, infrastructure, living basins, tax resources and administrative capacity.
Why every vote should count
In the end, the quality of a democracy is measured by how clearly citizens can see their vote turn into seats and identify their spokespeople. Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma is calling for a broad, pluralist and well-documented national debate, so that Senegal can equip itself with a system in which every citizen, every neighbourhood and every village truly weighs in the choice of the nation’s representatives.
